Blood Bonds
by NarcissaTheSecond
Summary: Set mid-way through season 4 but not directly linked to the plot. The gang is looking for the cure, but some not-so-new faces cause a stir among some of the Vamps in town. Namely Damon and Stefan Salvatore.


**Chapter One**

**The Dance**

* * *

"Ah, the 70's."

The quiet, sexy drawl of his voice brought a smile to her lips. An arm snaked around her waist.

"Did you get the drinks?" She asked, leaning back into his embrace.

"Just punch, I'm afraid." He replied, sounding bored, "Turns out they don't serve the hard stuff at these high school occasions."

"You didn't learn that from the other dances you've been too?" Elena asked, turning around and taking the red cup Damon offered her. She sipped. He was right. Fruit punch.

"I didn't pay much attention." He replied. She noticed he didn't have a drink. Why would he? He didn't need one. The only reason Elena had one was to keep up appearances. He reached up and pushed behind her ear a strand of her long, dark hair. "I had no reason too."

"And now you do?" She asked, leaning her face into his hand. It rested on her cheek. He didn't reply, but somehow he didn't have too. Damon was a closed book, but if you knew how to look deeper, if you wanted to see past the facade, his eyes told the entire story. _Eyes are the windows to the soul.._Elena had never met a person to whom this metaphor applied more accurately. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

Stefan would call it the sire bond, but Elena knew it was more than that. Wasn't Stefan the one who had told her that once you turn, everything is more enhanced? When Stefan was off with Klaus, he'd left her and Damon together and Elena knew from the day Stefan left that it would never be the same again. She hadn't planned for it to happen, but since she'd met the two brothers, she had never been able to fully rule out one for the other. Yes, she loved Damon, but then she had fallen in love with Stefan. After being turned, however, it was as if that had been turned on its head because Stefan had been absent from her life for such a time when Damon was always there for her. Damon always would be there for her, because he loved her and he valued her love above all else. Elena knew this without doubt, just as she knew that her feelings for Damon were as concrete as her human feelings for Stefan had been, and screw the sire bond. She'd rather live pretending it didn't exist, because it made absolutely no difference to her.

"Well, don't we look cosy over here." A voice said, sickly sweet as always. Into Elenas vision came a beautiful, leggy blonde on the arm of her equally beautiful ex.

"Rebekah." Damon said, distain evident in his voice, "How..._lovely _to see you here. And my nearest and dearest brother Stefan too. Charming."

"Save it, Damon." Stefan said. "We're not here to play games or play nice. We're here to discuss the cure."

"No." Elena said, with an exasperated sigh.

"Excuse me?" Rebekah replied, eyebrows raised. "No? I'm sorry Princess, but aren't you the reason these two are so obsessed with finding the cure? I'd at least think you'd act a little more grateful about it..."

"I am grateful!" Elena insisted, "I'm just not willing to spend every event in my senior year obsessing over the superatural the way I spent last year."

"I'm sorry, but the supernatural doesn't run on your schedule." Stefan said, sharply and Elena shot him a look.

"Why are you acting like this?" She demanded.

"Like what?"

"Like just because I'm with Damon now and you're with..._her," _She looked at Rebekah, unable to even say her name, "The two years you and I spent together have suddenly disappeared."

"Hey, Rebekah," Damon said, taking the blonde's arm, "Lets dance."

"Actually, I'd rather stay here and-"

"It wasn't an option." Damons eyes were hard, his grip on Rebekahs upper arm tight. Elena knew she could throw him off if she wanted, kept waiting for her to do so. But she didn't. Instead, she gave him a sarcastic smile and allowed him to lead her onto the dance floor. Damon glanced back at Elena, his eyes intense and dark. Elena knew he was giving her space, but she missed his warmth beside her.

"What do you want from me, Elena?" Stefan asked. "Do you want me to be happy for you and Damon? Do you want me to congratulate you and give him a pat on the back? Do you want my blessing?"

"Your blessing?" Elena said, astonished. "No, I don't want your _blessing!_ What I want is for you not to make this as difficult as you are doing-"

"I'm not making anything difficult, Elena! You seem to think that, even when we're not together anymore, all of my actions revolve around you! Well I hate to break it to you, but I'm not Damon. I'm not going to follow you around like a lost puppy and let all of my decisions be made because of your actions. You're not going to be the centre of my universe and I'm not going to try and steal you away from him-"

"He didn't steal me away!" Elena yelled, loud enough that, even over the music, people heard and turned to look at them. Elena glanced around and then inhaled deeply, trying to calm her temper. "Outside?" She suggested, more quietly. Stefan nodded and she began to push through the crowd towards the doors.

* * *

The silence outside compared to the noise inside was almost eerie. There were fairy lights twinkling in the trees and wrapped around the benches. Elena sat down on one of them, fiddling with the hem of her skirt.

Stefan leaned against the wall opposite her, his eyes on the floor, his hands in his pockets. It was amazing how uncomfortable a silence could be between two people who had shared so much. Then again, Elena thought, maybe that was the reason for the awkwardness. They'd shared so much of themselves with eachother that now they didn't know what to do with the information, they had no use for it. Elena had to ask herself, what was the point of their time together, why had it had to end like this?

"You know what.." Stefan said and Elena raised her eyes to look at him.

"What?"

He shook his head, obviously having decided he was better off not saying whatever it was he had been about to admit. Elena pressed on. "Stefan, what?"

"Sometimes I wish...I wish it would have been the other way around. I wish you could have been with him first. That you'd met him first, that he'd been your first love, that I was the unstable, passionate one."

"Why?" Elena asked, frowning up at him. Finally, he looked at her and their eyes locked.

"Because that way, you would be with me now."

She had no reply for that. How was she supposed to respond? She didn't feel the same way, so she couldn't say she did, but she had no intentions of hurting Stefan anymore.

"Do you think thats how it would have worked out?" He asked.

"Stefan..." Elena stood up and walked over to him, standing a few paces in front of him. "I think it worked out this way for a reason. I think...I'm supposed to be with Damon now. And maybe this won't work out either, maybe I'm not supposed to be with either of you. Maybe we'll find the cure and I'll take it and I'll end up with some human like...Matt or some guy I haven't even met yet. I wish I could tell you something different, but the truth is I honestly don't know."

Stefan smiled, ruefully. "You know, you didn't have to say that. You could have just told the truth.

Sighing, Elena had to ask. "And what truth might that be, Stefan?"

"That Damon is your present and your future. And that I'm your past." His eyes were on the floor again and Elenas heart went out to him.

"You'll never be my past, Stefan." She said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm always going to need you, no matter what. And yes, that is selfish of me..but I can't live without either of you. I need you both more than I need...more than I need blood to survive. There would be no point without either of you. I get that we both need time, you're hurting and I'm hurting too, but what I don't get is why you're using Rebekah to get back at me."

"See, Elena, thats the most selfish thing you've assumed all night. I'm not using her to get back at you. Rebekah was around long before you were, rougly eighty years before you were. And now she's back. We're back. She makes me...not hurt."

"In that case..I can try and be happy for you. You know, until the next time she tries to kill me."

"Well," Stefan said, with a slight smirk. "You're a lot less fragile now than you used to be."

"Against Rebekah? Please. We both know she'd still squish me like a bug."

"Right I would, Elena darling." Rebekahs voice came from the doorway and Elena couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Now, can I have my date back, please?" She said, with a fake pout. She held her hand out to Stefan and Elena watched as he took it and let her pull him inside.

"Hey, Elena, you coming?" Damon asked, having replaced Rebekah in the doorway. His smile was warm and comforting. Elena nodded and stood up, straightening her dress.

How things had changed.


End file.
